2. The SAP HANA platform was selected to develop an unprecedented statistical analysis tool to assist the team management of which IPL team during the auction happening in Bangalore on February 12, 2014?

3. Statistical features of ‘X’ software includes a wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques, and linear/ nonlinear modeling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, clustering, and others. It is an implementation of another programming language (developed by ‘Y’) combined with lexical scoping semantics. Identify X and Y.

4. Palo Alto major X has bought Bangalore based analytics firm Y to gain more insights about chatter on Z

5. W’s manager X assisted by Peter Brand ‘Y’ selects players based almost exclusively on their on-base percentage (OBP). By finding players with a high OBP but with characteristics that lead scouts to dismiss them, X assembles a team of undervalued players with far more potential than the W’s hamstrung finances would otherwise allow. Despite vehement objections from the scouts, X supports Y’s theory and hires the players he selected. despite all their success in the second half of the season the ‘W’ lost in the first round of the postseason. ‘X’ is later approached by the owner of the ‘z’, who realizes that the sabermetric model is the future of baseball. In 2004, two years after adopting the sabermetric model, the Boston Red Sox win their first World Series since 1918. Identify W,X,Y,Z.

6. The European Union has included aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme as part of the initiative to abate global warming. This covers passenger, cargo and non-commercial flights and applies no matter where an operator is based. Non-European carriers also need to comply with the scheme. Carriers that don’t comply face huge penalties and may even be banned from operating in the EU .X needed a solution that would help it automatically and accurately measure its carbon footprint and create reports, with a clear audit trail and integration to various flight and business systems. For this X consulted Y, for developing an predictive analytical models to automatically and accurately calculate and predict aircraft emissions. Identify X and Y.
The airline now has an automated calculation and analysis process that will provide accurate emissions calculations and predictions, helping it make effective decisions for buying ____________ and allowances.

7. X an internet gaint acquired Y in April 2005. Y helped x to build systems to bring ideas from Adaptive Path, whose product, Measure Map, was acquired and used in the redesign of Analytics in 2006. X continued to sell the standalone, installable Software through a network of value-added resellers until discontinuation on March 28, 2012. In April 2011, X announced the availability of a new version of Analytics, featuring multiple dashboards, more options of custom reports and a new interface design. This version was later updated with some other features such as real-time analytics and goal flow charts. In May of 2011, country ‘Z’ banned X analytic platform because of an EU cookie law. The judgement was revoked after making few changes in the source code for region EU. Identify X,Y, and Z.

Answers

1. SAS
2. Parmesan cheese. It takes two years for it to be ready for sale. To keep the cash flow of farmers smooth, the bank lends money against cheese.
3. X-R Software, Y– Bell Labs
4. X-Apple, Y-Topsy, Z– Twitter
5. W-Oakland Athletics, Y-Billy Beane, Peter Brand, Boston Red Sox
6. X-Jet Airways, Y-IBN, Carbon Credits
7. X-Google, Y– Urchin Software Group, Z– Germany

Well, that is not the topic of my comments; my take is on “Retail Sector back then and now”. I take you to the era after 1991, when McDonald was unknown to most of the Indians but it existed for half a century in the outside world, when telephone, TV were the commodities of rich, when 1 rupee on the palms of children was meant for 16 orange candies, when Mahabharata and Ramayana had the highest TRP and when Shahrukh was spreading the magic of romance. This was the time when organized retail was in the design phase of its existence in India and unorganized retail was the way of living.Then something hit India which is considered as the best reflection of Indian political fraternity till now, and it was Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG).

Though the idea struck in 1991, the slow process of opening up the retail sector to FDI started in 1995 when a free trade policy passed by WTO directed India to allow FDI in cash and carry (wholesale) which ultimately got materialized in 1997 and Indian government allowed 100% rights subjected to government’s approval. If we talk about the situation of retail at ground level that time, there was not much change except the expansion of Indian middle class and their purchasing power and a demand for more organized market. Kirana or mom-and-pop stores with limited goods on the shelves and its owners with their family business values were leading the Retail market. Occasional fairs open Kiosks and stalls – also known as Mandis – were the sources for food and grocery during that time. The flavour of western culture was also tasted by some traditional retail chains like Nilgiri and Akbarallyswho made supermarkets on similar lines, which indeed led the foundation of organized retail in India.During the same time, high streets like Linking Road and Fashion Street emerged as the busiest markets of Mumbai.

The choices for a customer were limited which gave birth to a concept called “Everything under one roof”. As time passed, joint families started changing into nuclear families. There too both members started earning which resulted into a new way of lifestyle. Since then growth of mom-and-pop type of stores started diminishing, and organized retail stores came into existence. . Big veterans of the global retail industry in the likes of McDonalds and Dominos stepped in the Indian market with support from the domestic conglomerates. Same period witnessed a revolution of new retail formats like departmental stores, hypermarkets and supermarkets whose popularity grew several folds nationally. Flourishing with an exponential rate, Indian Retail Sector transformed itself continuously to become the most desirable retail destinations in the world. The start of twenty first century brought the retail sector as one of the quickest growing sectors in India. Some of the companies who started their operations that time are renowned names today – Liberty Retail Revolutions, Welspun Retail Ltd, Hypercity Retail (India) Ltd and METRO Cash and Carry India Pvt Ltd.

The rejuvenation of the sector can be attributed to foreign players who publicized the cash and carry format.

The rapidly evolving shopping centres, multi-storey lifestyle malls, giant complexes that offer shopping, food and entertainment concepts in tier I, II and III cities are overwhelming and they are attracting companies to invest in the rapidly growing Indian organized retail space. These companies have too much inclination towards new retail formats like departmental stores, hypermarkets, convenience stores, supermarkets, and they are contributing substantially in the Indian organized retail. Many big business houses like Reliance, Aditya Birla, Tataetchave aligned themselves in this retail market during the last two decades by investing heavily keeping in mind the long term benefits.Some companies have expanded their presence in the booming market through the inorganic route by acquiring existing retail players; for instance, the Aditya Birla Group took over Trinethra supermarkets and Indiabulls acquired Piramyd Retail Ltd.

Now a large chunk of middle class prefer to buy grocery monthly from big bazaar like marts rather than a Mom n Pop store, they prefer to browse the variety of fashion in Lifestyle, Pantaloons etc rather than going to a local garment shop, they prefer to do the whole shopping in a big Mall rather than going to a specific product market. Well, what is so promising about organized retail stores? My opinion, it’s their stress on providing the best customer experience which comprises of an air conditioned building with good maintenance, trained workforce, technologically advanced electronic machines, parking facilities and organized display of products so that customers can browse easily, be satisfied with his selection and save time on top of it. This is nothing but a new way of making shopping a luxurious experience along with the joy and entertainment it brings along for the customer. Fix cost removes the threat of misleading and bargaining is not an option which is a relief for someone who is really bad at it. Certainly times have changed and it goes without saying that we are living in a constantly evolving India with its prevailing retail revolution which might surpass the achievements of IT industry in the near future. Because,

“High expectations are the key to everything”
Sam Walton, Founder of Wal-Mart.

Piyush Sharma
MBA Batch 2013-15

Q2. Who is the author of the book “Fault lines: how hidden factures still threaten the world economy”?

Q3. If e-commerce stands for electronic commerce, then what does v-commerce stands for?

Q4. “Ashley News” is in-house journal of which Indian automobile company?

Q5. As per a recent Forbes study what is the average revenue per app earned by developers who build Apple apps?

Q6. In a move to reduce outgo of forex and earn customs duty, what is the duty imposed by Govt of India in import of TVs from August 26 ?

Q7. Expand VCES, the service tax amnesty scheme launched by GoI.

Q8. Which co has patented a ‘pay-per-gaze’ technology that will help advertisers track emotional response to real world and online ads ?

Q9. Which is India’s largest permission marketing firm which uses ‘missed call’ to get potential customers?

Q10. In which district did the FM P.Chidamabaram inaugurate the 15000th branch of SBI on August 17th 2013?

Q11. Who is the partner of Shripal Morakhia in the sports entertainment venture Smaaash Entertainment which has augmented reality simulators ?

Q12. Which agency owns the not for profit venture capital firm In-Q-Tel that invests in cutting edge IT related to intelligence ?

Q13. First life insurance company established by the Indians?

Q14. Which was the 1st Mutual Fund Company in India?

Q15. Which was the first Indian bankto open its branches outsideIndia?

Q16. Which airport is credited to have the first ever duty free shop in the world ?

Q17. With which website would you associate the company BigTree Entertainment?

Q18. Which web major has launched a ‘ 30 days of change’ campaign after which it will reveal its new logo ?

Q19. Of which international confectionery major has IIM-B alum Sameer Suneja taken over as the CEO ?

Q20. Which company is the biggest buyer of used jets in 2013?

The answer is definitely NO. Let’s try to first understand the present economic condition of India.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) survey of global economy has found that- Among BRIC countries, India’s government debt is found to be highest at 67.57% of its GDP, followed by the Brazilian government debt at 65.09%. On the other side, debt levels in Russia and China are comfortably fixed at around 8.37% and 22.03% respectively.

The exports from India reduced for the fifth straight month in September while imports rose, pushing up the trade deficit to an 11 month high of 18.1billion $exports decreased 10.8% from a year ago to 23.7 billion $ while import increased 5.1% to 41.8 billion$. Exports have decreased sharply this fiscal due to reducing demand from west, a major market for Indian goods and other markets like Korea and Japan. The sectors affected most include petroleum products, engineering goods, gems, jewellery, drugs and ready made garments.

Overall we can say our trade deficit is increasing year after year. The manufacturing sector is a major contributor for the existing trade deficit. The information above indicates that we are continuously losing our edge on manufacturing sector because of the presence of cheaper Chinese goods. This might have a serious implication on the employment condition in India. Now let’s see how big retailers widens this import export gap particularly in manufacturing sector in countries like India whose markets are already flooding up with cheaper goods of China which ultimately leads to unemployment.

Let’s consider an example of Wal-Mart, started its business in China. The total value of the goods and services traded between US and China is $539 billion in 2011.Exports totalled $128 billion; Imports totalled $411 billion. The US goods and services trade deficit with China is $282 billion. China is currently the largest supplier of goods for US. The value of US goods imports from china is $399.3 billion in 2011, 9.4% increase from 2010, and up 299% since 2000.The major import categories in 2011 were Electrical machinery, Machinery, Toys and Sports Equipment, Furniture and Bedding, and Footwear.

As per the report of Economic Policy Institute, The United States is accumulating foreign debt and losing its expertise in export, and the growing trade deficit with China has been a major contributor to the employment crisis in U.S. particularly in manufacturing sector. Between 2001 and 2011, the trade deficit with China displaced more than 2.7 million U.S. jobs, 76.9 percent of which were in manufacturing sector.

Some critics say China has achieved its rapidly growing trade surpluses by devaluing of its currency artificially and have used various tactics like repressing the labour rights, suppressing their wages, subsidizing their products and thus making their product cheaper. China thus gives a conducive environment to big retailers like Wal-Mart to increase their profits while exporting from China and selling it across the globe.

We are nowhere different from America in this case whose manufacturing sector is struggling because of the presence of cheaper Chinese goods. We need to reduce the government debt and at the same time we need to decrease the trade deficit to improve the employment condition in India. To reduce the debt we need serious reforms which can inject money in to our market. For this allowing FDI in retail is not at all a bad option. This will indeed inject surplus money in to Indian market. But then question comes how to reduce the trade deficit.

The answer is definitely ‘30% rule’

The rule says:
At least 30% of their goods and product must be procured from local source.The rule is definitely the trump card thrown by GOI considering Indian framework and priorities in mind. This might help in reducing the trade deficit and at the same point small enterprises producing intermediary goods and ancillary items will benefit.
This 30% rule will help in balancing the trade deficit caused because of downsizing of manufacturing sector. As the retailers who wants to expand their business must procure 30% of their goods from local companies and industries, will help small retailers and dealers to sustain their profits and also it will provide new market opportunities to small enterprises, local companies and industries.Some 20-40% of all fruits and vegetables grown in the country go waste due to poor storage, transportation and handling infrastructure. As per govt regulation- At least 50% of total investment will be made on back-end infrastructure. Therefore foreign companies will invest huge capital in India. As a result, refrigeration technology, infrastructure facilities, transportation, etc. will be re innovated. That will boost exports and also lead to low-inflation rate.

-Shashank Shivhare

-Batch 2012-14

]]> http://www.iitk.ac.in/ime/MBA_IITK/avantgarde/?feed=rss2&p=1029 0 http://www.iitk.ac.in/ime/MBA_IITK/avantgarde/?p=1034 http://www.iitk.ac.in/ime/MBA_IITK/avantgarde/?p=1034#comments Sun, 04 Aug 2013 15:04:31 +0000 Avant Garde http://www.iitk.ac.in/ime/MBA_IITK/avantgarde/?p=1034 1. What is known as Slash Funds?

2. In financial terms what does bridge loan means?

3. In the Deming Quality cycle, what does PDCA mean?

4. Bank of the Middle East, Dubai is maintaining an account with SBI Mumbai. SBI Mumbai calls this account as
(a)Nostro account
(b) Vostro account
(c) Loro account
(d) Mirror account

5. The amount that can be realized by a company if it sells its business as an operating one is termed as
(a) Going Concern value
(b) Market value
(c) Book value
(d) Replacement value

6. Which of the following Players cannot act as a borrower in the call money market?
(a) Discount and financial House of India
(b) SBI
(c) SBI Mutual Fund
(d) Securities trading corporation of India

7. Entry barrier are those things in place that can make entry into market difficult. Which of the following is not an entry barrier?
(a) Economics of scale
(b) High capital requirement
(c) Low asset salvage value
(d) Proprietary products

8. Which of the following functions of warehousing uses the warehouse as a station for transferring goods from one place to another?
(a)Stock mixing
(b)Batch method
(c)Cross docking
(d)Continuous method

9. Account where lump sum investment is made for specific period is
(a)Term Deposit account
(b)Savings account
(c)Current account
(d)Recurring deposit

10. CRR and SLR are which types of reserves
(a) Cash
(b) Depository
(c) Statutory
(d) None of the above

11. Finance service offered by PFC does not include
(a) Term loan
(b) Lease Finance
(c) Loan syndication
(d) Insurance

12. Which of the following types of layout is commonly used for JIT Manufacturing?
(a)L-shape
(b)U-shape
(c)Straight line
(d)Comb arrangement

13. In which of the following work measurement techniques, an analyst is not required to measure work performance?
(a) Time study
(b) Standard Data
(c) Historical Analysis
(d) Both B and C

14. When an emergency occurs, Appointment systems use which of the following for the purpose of scheduling?
(a) Optimistic time
(b) Most likely time
(c) Slash time
(d) Earliest start time

15. SENSEX is calculated using which of the following method?
(a) IFRS Defined
(b) SEBI Defined
(c) Market Turnover
(d) Market Capitalization

16. The NSE Nifty Index comprise of how many companies?
(a) 30
(b) 60
(c) 50
(d) 100

17. A future contract is nothing but a forward contract that is
(a) Sold by mutual fund
(b) Sold by RBI
(c) Exchange traded
(d) Traded across the counter

18. DRDO takes order to manufacture spares of aircraft engine. It takes order from ISRO and Indian Air Force. What kind of finished goods inventory policy they should adopt?
(a)Produce to stock
(b)Fixed order period
(c)Produce to order
(d)Economic order quantity

19. Which of the following arguments for “protection” is given to compensate the country for loss in revenue when price elasticity of import demand is greater than zero?
(a)Home-market argument
(b)Employment argument
(c)Terms-of-trade argument
(d)Keep-money-at-home argument

20. The appropriate type of lay out for the purpose of the Automobile manufacturing is
(a) Product layout
(b) Process layout
(c) Grouping Technology layout
(d) Fixed Position Layout

Compiled By:
Chintan Parikh
Team AG
MBA Batch 2012-14
IIT Kanpur

The perspective towards organisation culture has undergone significant change in the last century. Fredrick Winslow Taylor, the father of scientific management, stressed that scientific management tries to increase productivity by increasing efficiency and wages of workers, and it finds out the best method for performing each job. This theory emphasized on scientific jargons such as scientific selection procedures, scientific training and development, division of labour, performance standards etc.

However towards the late 1960’s several contingency approaches were developed, which accentuated the contingency theory i.e. a class of behavioural theory, that claims that there is no best way to organize a corporation, to lead a company, how to make decisions; instead, the optimal course of action is contingent (dependent) upon the internal and external situations. These approaches disapproved Taylor’s scientific management by reasoning that it failed because it neglected that management style and organization structure were influenced by various aspects of the environment: the contingency factors, i.e., there could not be “one best way” for leadership or organization, rather is the “best fit”.

Moving ahead on same lines, and to corroborate our argument in real time organizations, we have chosen JK Industries, located in DadaNagar, Kanpur as our organisation of interest. It is a small-scale firm, which manufactures electrical motors and submersible pumps. Established in the year 1985, with current employee strength of 10 and a basic production unit for motors and pumps, it has rapidly expanded operations, and today it is the leading manufacturer of induction motors for a wide range of industrial applications. Being a small scale organisation, all the decisions are taken by the owner, and it follows a very rigid and mechanistic structure.

One of the biggest learning this project has provided us with is a better understanding of working in a small team and how to effectively handle the team dynamics. When we as individuals, worked collaboratively towards a common goal of studying an organization in light of the various organizational theories we have learnt so far, we came across a plethora of factors affecting the effective working of our team, viz. trust, peer-compassion, effective communication skills, technical expertise, etc. We learnt to trust each other’s specific skills and expertise in a particular area and assign them tasks accordingly. But most importantly, we learnt that a team’s output is a collective responsibility, and everyone is equally accountable to it. The project became very close to us in due time, and all of us really wanted to learn the working of JK Industries, specifically in light of various organizational theories being taught to us.

Before commencing our project, we kept our initial focus on few organizational theories and, kept adding in due time, as we learnt more through the course and were able to correlate those theories with real time organizations. One of our primary focuses was to do a comparative study between Taylor’s scientific management theory and the Contingency approach, in light of small scale organizations. From our observations, we were able to deduce that the contingency approaches were indeed right in disapproving the scientific management principles, as no two organizations behave in a similar manner towards the internal and external environment, and thus we cannot generalize a single management technique throughout all organizations. Specifically in JK Industries, we could see that on few occasions, they failed as a team during crisis situations, and still had no clue about how to deal with the future contingencies.

Another interesting aspect of our learning process is about the theory of legitimacy, and how it is sometimes deployed by organizations to attain social acceptance. We saw shock behavior by JK Industries, wherein they treated the ISO standards as just ‘selling tags’, without meeting all of the stated safety regulations. We could see the organizational theory of legitimacy fit perfectly in such situations.

Finally, we got to observe nuances between espoused theory and the theory in use for JK Industries, which in a partial manner, may represent the practices being followed across other such small scale organizations. We learnt that, the organization looks very different on paper and in the way it actually behaves. Even after our firm persuasion to the workers to know the latent truths of the cultural aspects of JK Industries, we believe that still we are far away from the truth, and what we have unearthed, is just a tip of an iceberg. On one occasion, when we requested the owner to consider their perspective towards the ISO and safety standards, he gave us an affirmative smile and said he would definitely look into it, but we believe that we may be able to change his espoused theories while leaving his theories-in-use untouched, i.e. he might have said all the right things, but would continue to do the wrong things.
Overall, it was an enriching experience for our entire team, and we look forward to more of such projects in future, which would bring together us as a team, to work towards a common goal and in turn, rediscover more about our own strengths and weaknesses, if any.

Project Done By -
- AngshumanSarkar
- Anil Kumar
- MangeshDharwad
- Vidit Mehta

Role of GCMMF

GCMMF is primary responsible for distribution of milk and dairy products from unions to the customers. GCMMF follow generally two kind of strategy (1) Development of strong customer base for low valued segments and (2) Introduction of high valued items in developed low valued segments. GCMMF never relies upon heavy advertisement of its product and market all the products under the name of AMUL only. It believes in increasing efficiency of the advertising and not in increasing budget of advertising. All we know about Amul advertisement is of the Cartoon girl who markets product by making fun of recent issues and encouraging people everywhere. This development of common identity is at the core of the GCMMF’s marketing strategy. GCMMF also plays a key role in working with the Unions to coordinate the supply of milk and dairy products. In essence, it procures from multiple production plants, which in turn procure from the Village Societies registered with each Union. GCMMF distributes its products through third party distribution depots that are managed by distributors who are exclusive to GCMMF. These distributors are also responsible for servicing retail outlets all over the country. GCMMF sales staff manages this process. Retailing of GCMMF’s products takes place through the FMCG retail network in India most of whom are small retailers. Liquid milk is distributed by vendors who deliver milk at homes. Since 1999, GCMMF has started web based ordering facilities for its customers.

Use of Latest technology

AMUL has the large variety of product mix and producing them requires diverse skills and different types of processes. Most of the milk AMUL received daily is buffalo milk and supply of it varies according to the season. It is high in winter season whereas less in summer season. On the other hand demand of the milk is almost same in any season. Also cooperatives have been established with aim of purchasing any amount of milk that member want to sell. So sometime Amul has surplus supply of milk and sometime it has less supply of milk demand. Also there was no technology in the world to convert Buffalo milk in to the milk Powder. Engineers at Amul successfully developed commercial viable process for producing milk powder from buffalo milk. It has also developed baby food and cheese from the milk powder. Embryo transfer technology has helped to develop high yield breed of cattle in the country.B2C ordering portal, an ERP based supply chain planning system for the flow of material in the network, a net based dairy kiosk at village societies for taking dairy related information, automated milk collection information at more than 10,000 villages is available for unions to enable them to make faster decisions in terms of production & distribution planning and disease control in animals. Similarly, this is linked with information at all 45 distribution offices and 3900 distributors. This network is being extended to cover all related field offices in the network. The GCMMF cyber store delivers AMUL products at the doorsteps of the consumers in 125 cities across the country. The interesting thing to note here is that most of these technologies are developed in rural area where infrastructure availability and education among the people is very less and in spite of that most of the farmers use these technologies.

Overall AMUL has been successful to develop linkages among cooperatives and develop partnership among Milk Producers, processors and marketers. Such partnerships reduce the operational risk and help to understand the consumer through its reliable partners. It provides flexibility and makes the entire organization responsive to changing environment conditions. Amul model has successfully shown the management through cooperatives and how cooperatives can be used to build larger organization. One can learn many things from this model and apply it in business practices. The approach may be different but message remains same- Building organizations through cooperatives.

References:

1. Baviskar, B.S. (1988) “Dairy Cooperatives and Rural development in Gujarat,” in Who Shares?
2. Heredia, R. (1997) The Amul India Story, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi.
3. Kurien, V. (1997) The Unfinished Dream, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi.
4. www.amul.com
5. Amul study by pankaj Chandra and Devnath tirupati

Written by,
Chintan Parikh
MBA Batch 2012-14
IIT Kanpur

- Louisa May Alcott

This phrase defines how women have been suppressed since ages and how the cup of failure is always on their side of the table. With this, I would like to emphasize on how imperative it has become to identify, motivate and guide women professionals to succeed in today’s global economy.

Women are a critical aspect of any organization. Today, companies follow diversify & inclusion principle for a gender diverse boardroom. Women now have to break many cultural barriers imposed by the society. Being a woman, it feels glorified to see women’s tremendous management and entrepreneurial spirit to become an integral part of the great Indian success saga.

“Emerging Women Leader’s Summit” recently organized by HCL technologies is a step to identify and communicate the importance of women leaders in an organization. The occasion was blessed with the presence of global leaders at HCL technologies and I feel honored to be able to become a part of such a wonderful and enriching experience.

Ms. Srimathi Shivashankar, an extremely elegant lady heading strategic division at HCL, set the ball rolling.She started by emphasizing on the need to move away from clichés and brought on the table the concept of balance leadership. Maintaining equal stands of men and women in senior management positions in the company is what the term highlights. This balance has a direct implication. As more and more women gets included in leadership positions, the lesser the chances of risk gets. According to one of the McKinsey reports, it has been put forth that the teams with good number of women yields much higher productivity with lesser risks than the teams which are devoid of women.

The entire scenario of gender neutral workforce revolves around what a person is and not who a person is. i.e irrespective of gender what matters is what qualities a person have, that can add value to the organization, that brings business to the table. I loved the way she quoted the fact that Indian women need not reinvent, she just needs to pick a leaf up from her grandma’s book and there she is with all the answers, with all the remedies.

Women just need to rediscover herself. Many women fear leadership positions because they don’t find themselves competent enough to their male counterparts. Leadership does not imply that a woman changes herself or moulds herself by aping others. It is something which is an extension of her personality and comes out very easily when the situation demands. It is just that she needs to realize her potential and be ready to take charge of the situation, when needed.Organizations want a balance between male and female employees for the purpose of sound decisions, for higher productivity.A right workforce brings right business for you. Women need to find such organizations which nurtures them and HCL Technologies is one right place for them.

The discussion was taken forward by Mr. Prithvi Shergill, Chief Human Resource Officer at HCL. He talked about HCL’s policy of “Employees First, Customers Second”. A book has been written on the same by HCL’s CEO Mr. Vineet Nayar. Mr. Krishna Chatterjee, Head Strategic Marketing also explained how EFCS is a strategy, culture and a way of life at HCL Technologies.

HCL is a value centric organization and trust, transparency and flexibility are its basic pillars. The book is all about the transformation through a cultural change that came because of transparency. After its inception and implementation in HCL since 2005, the policy resulted in tripling of revenues and profits at HCL.

The four tenants of the book:

Mirror Mirror ,Confronting the Truth deals with open and honest conversations across the organization to result in satisfied and productive employees.

Transparency to build Trust deals with sharing of financial information (good or bad) with all its employees.

Inverting the management Pyramid, the sole focus of which is to make the people at the helm accountable to frontline employees. An initiative is 360 degree feedback.

Recasting the Office of CEO, a value portal system where employees offer suggestions and solutions for change.

CEO, Mr. Nayar himself came to bless the occasion. According to him, the whole idea at HCL is to put the employees first so that the customer never feels second. By placing the employees first, they are giving them the opportunities and good players wait for one single opportunity. Motivation is within each self. HCL provides you with a platform of opportunities. You have to remain self-motivated to grab the suitable opportunity.

The next focus of the meet was “Gender Intelligence”.  A lady with eternal poise, Ms. Ranjini Manian,CEO,Global Adjustments, created an aura in the entire room, when she started mentioning  the growing importance of gender intelligence. She quoted by saying that, women can be great leaders if they come out of their shells. They have great conviction power which is one of the cornerstones of leadership.

Good leaders can bind the people in one vision and you need a great convincing power to do the same. Women have immense potential to be great leaders and they are very good at replicating the exact focus of the business into minds and hearts of the employees.It is just that women need to recognize their potential. They need to come out of their comfort zones and should carry the transition from No Confidence to Confidence.

It is Ok to be Imperfect. Women are generally risk averse. Life doesn’t end by a wrong decision but women keep many things on stake and hence fear a wrong decision. They should give themselves the permission to be imperfect. And then everything will be fine. She quoted a commendable example to focus on difference in thought structures, mentality of women in various countries and cultures.

“A child falls on stairs. A woman from western world will not cuddle her child but she will ask him to be careful next time whereas in the same scenario, an Indian woman will quickly hug her child and will start cursing stairs in front of the child.” Nice example, isn’t it?  And it says it all. We need to change our way of thinking and this transition has already started taking place particularly for women, since a decade or so.

Mr. Ed Cohen, Chief Learning officer then carried forward the discussion focusing on the emerging need of transition to a global mindset. He made us aware about various traits of independent and interdependent societies and centered his discussion on the need of globalization in today’s era. There were panel discussions regarding the changing trends in IT market space and careers for management students and management of successful careers as women.

Women are excellent networkers, great mediators and are good in building relationships. The time has come that Indian women should rise and claim for their position in the organizations. HCL is one such organization which believes in women and gives them immense opportunities to prove themselves in today’s global scenario.

The day ended by closing remarks by Mr. Naveen Narayanan, Global head-Talent Acquisition.The remarkable insights from all distinguished speakers regarding women empowerment, leadership, and global business scenarios were clearly in line with the management philosophy at HCL Technologies and were truly enlightening.

Monica Agrawal

MBA 2013, IIT Kanpur

My trolley was rolling down the ails as a villains car would steer down the bumpy roads in a typical movie. As I was hurrying I suddenly stopped as my sight went by the v-shaped tees. “Oh God! I came here for these only…” But where is the discount tag? I could not find one. After lot of toppling and doppling I decided to call one of the staff members. “Check the section and the rack where you found it lying. They all have a common rate of discount being offered,” told me a friendly looking staff member.

I rushed back immediately. Oh. Unbelievable discount. To my delight the store offered 75% discount. I put in two sets in my trolley. Should I give it a try or not, i asked myself as i walked towards the only open counter. No. I don’t have time. The store will close any moment from now. And I don’t want to miss it. But what if the size doesn’t fits in? My mind argued. Hmmm… Let me do some mathematics. I’m getting 6 tees at the price of 2. Even if the tees doesn’t fit well, I can satisfy my 6 pals with surprise presents!

“Bhaiya! Jaldi se checkout kar dijiye. Bill kitna hua bta dijiye, maine inhe 75% discount section se liya hia!” He grabbed the packets and swipped them over the red blinking lazers. Beap and a tu-tu-tu sound and I’m done. Yippy. No one can take away them from me now, I had a sigh of relief. I recieved the white coloured rectangular bill detail. Wait, there must be some mistake.

“Bhiaya. Fir se swipe kijiye. You forgot to put the discount!” I said.

“Sir! I don’t have to put any information. It is all build in.”

“Yes. I understand that. But I took it from the 75% discount row,” I tried to made him understand.

“But the system is not showing discount, sir. You got some mistake.”

“What mistake? I’m not stupid. Don’t try to cheat me.” I got a little angry. How could all my effort and hustle go in vain. After all my 6 pals are going to get affected.

“Sorry Sir, I cannot help you with this,” he requested.

“Where is the section manager… Let me prove you. He told me to check price under the section..” I turned towards the area where I saw him the last. After a little searching, I got hold of him. “Come along with me, tell that person at counter. He is not understanding that it is a discount item.”

“Sir. If the machine is not showing then, you won’t get a discount.”

“What do you mean by ‘I won’t get’. You can’t cheat a customer like this,” I shouted.

“But sir, sometimes customers themselves put them on wrong shelves. It is normal,” he told.

I rushed back to the counter. “Look I don’t want to purchase anything from your store. Rehne dijiye. I’m a business student. I’ll make sure you guys get proper penalty. You can’t break an agreement like this.” I quickly walked away without waiting his response.

Next day I spend researching the legal aspects of the offerings made in the malls like this. Where the offerings are made out on shelves with price tags. “Does it forms an agreement?” was the main question to be answered. Because if once I prove that it is an agreement, I can obviously claim a damage from the party in lieu of breaking the agreement. I came across some interesting findings.

Understanding the Self service store model legally

Customer puts the stuff he intend to buy in the trolley he carries and moves along the rows where products are displayed along with he price labels. Customer has freedom of selection and choice. Once the product is taken to the counter and money is transferred. So it is important to understand where does the selling takes place in this kind of format.

Is product at display ‘an offer’ or merely an ‘invitation to offer’?

Because if it is mere an invitation to offer, then the store is free to refuse the customer from buying on several grounds. Primary being the price and quantity on display that may be claimed to be put wrongly by mistake!

Whether an agreement had arisen?

For agreement to come into being the last act must be an acceptance by both parties. Acceptance can be made only to the ‘offer’ not the ‘invitation to the offer’. If a communication merely solicits or invites parties to make an offer, is an invitation, not an offer itself.

The sectioning of the floor and the discount tag and categorisation is primarily meant to ease the process offering. The final agreement takes place only at the cash counter where exchange is made. So the price modification/alteration and quantity check may be placed by the store at the cash counter. Since, it is the actual place where final transaction is being made.

So the customer cannot claim damage in case the price of item doesn’t match the section from where it was taken from. Simply because it is a communication, and as rightly pointed by the staff member in my case, other costumer could displace items from their original shelves. It would not mean that the price of the product would change, merely by its position!

Interesting classic cases on same problem (available on wiki):

1. Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain vs Boots Cash Chemists Ltd., 1953

2. Lefkowitz vs Great Minneapolis Surplus Store, Inc, 1956

Mukul Joshi

MBA Batch 2013

Reference:

‘Legal Aspects of Business’, Akhileshwar Pathak, 4th Edition, TMH, 2010